Letters Written in the Sky
by Lossefalme
Summary: NEW: Falling Slowly - in which Shepard takes a leap... who will be there to catch her? This will be a collection of shorts from various prompts or challenges. Multiple pairings and POVs, multiple Shepards likely. Spans all three games. Summaries within.
1. Green

**Mass Effect** **1**  
**Rating:** K  
**Shenko**  
**Elizabeth Shepard 'verse (same as Snapshots, Approaching Normal, Oligo, and Compromise)**  
**Prompt:** **"Green", **from the me_challenge community at Live Journal, Insanity Round  
**Summary:** Ashley chastises Kaidan for not knowing what his favorite color is...

* * *

**Green**

* * *

Ashley Williams turned her helmeted head to stare at him in disbelief and Kaidan shifted on his feet, the _Normandy_'s airlock suddenly seeming a trifle claustrophobic.

"Seriously?" the woman burst out. "How can you _not _know what your favorite color is?"

He shrugged his armored shoulders, pretending to double-check the heat sink of the pistol in his hands. "I don't know… I guess it just never really seemed all that important of a decision. Not one of those life-changing moments, you know?"

Ashley snorted. "Really? So you never listed your favorite color as an answer to a security question or something?"

He frowned at her. "No. I always picked questions that most people wouldn't know the answer to. And if you're going around telling everyone your favorite color, why would you choose that as a security question?"

The helmet did little to hide her expression of amusement. "You're such a nerd, LT."

"And a good thing, too," he quipped. "Otherwise who would save your ass when you get pinned down by a Geth Prime and have a shorted-out shield modulator?"

"Hrm," Ashley conceded.

"My favorite color is blue," Garrus said abruptly from his spot near the airlock's door, and Kaidan rolled his eyes. So the turian had to be in on this now too, did he?

Ashley lifted a hand to gesture meaningfully. "See! Even Garrus knows his favorite color! I'm telling you, LT, you're just weird for not knowing."

Kaidan sighed heavily. He wasn't going to hear the end of it until he decided on a color, apparently.

"Studies have shown that your favorite color actually reflects your personality," the chief continued matter-of-factly. "If you don't know what you're favorite color is… it's like not knowing your own self!"

Kaidan dropped his head, closing his eyes and wishing for a minute that he wasn't wearing his helmet so he could massage his temples. They hadn't even left the _Normandy_ yet and Williams was already giving him a headache. "Is that so?" he asked wearily. "So orange pretty accurately describes you, then, does it?"

"It sure does."

He could see that, actually, in an abstract kind of way. Looking at orange made his eyes hurt, and a lot of orange for a long time gave him headaches. Just like now…

There was a crackle through his hardsuit's comms and Joker's voice sounded over the party channel. "Okay, we're on approach to Zhu's Hope. Still no answer to our hails, Commander. Looks like their communications are down… or worse. ETA to dock one minute."

"Roger that," Shepard acknowledged, her shotgun whirring open as she pulled it from its holster at her waist. "Okay people, stay sharp," she said, and effortlessly moved into a defensive combat stance.

Kaidan readied his own weapon, adopting a similar stance, and saw Williams and Vakarian do the same. A moment of tense silence fell over them as they mentally ticked down the seconds of what was always the longest minute of any mission.

The calm before the storm.

There was a thump as the _Normandy_ settled into the docking clamps, then a strange and eerie silence as Joker powered down the engines. The airlock began to cycle through its pressurizing protocol, and Kaidan felt the familiar wave of nervous anxiety crash over him. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and focused on his job.

Focused on Shepard's back. He would always have her back… probably even if it didn't happen to be his job.

Shepard cleared her throat. "By the way, my favorite color is red." She looked over her shoulder at him, teeth flashing beneath her visor as she grinned, her brilliant green eyes alive with humor. And looking right at him.

His breath caught in his throat. He hardly noticed Ashley's chuckles from beside him.

"That fits you just perfect, Commander," Williams exclaimed. "Naturally!"

The airlock opened and Shepard turned back to the front, snapping Kaidan back into reality. He shook himself, unnerved by how much he suddenly wished she would look at him like that again, and forced his attention back to the mission.

But as the four of them piled out of the airlock into the muggy, stale air of Zhu's Hope, it struck him with all the force of an epiphany. He knew, right then and there.

_Green. Green is my favorite color._


	2. No! That is not a toilet!

**Mass Effect 3**  
**Rating:** T  
**No real implied pairings.**  
**Let's call this Jaine Shepard 'verse** (!Renegade!Earthborn!ButcherofTorfan!Sentinel!)  
**Prompt:** **"No! That is not a toilet!"** from the me_challenge community at LiveJournal, Insanity round, **and... zweihand's freakin adorable chibi drawings of Joker getting a cat and showing it to James, who does not look pleased** initially that Joker has a cat. Unfortunately I can't post links here, but head over to the Mass Effect community on LJ and click the fanart tag, I believe it's still one of the top fanart posts. You'll know the picture when you see it. ;)  
**Summary:** The Normandy has adopted a kitty cat, and James isn't too happy about it...

* * *

**No! That is not a toilet!**

* * *

James Vega grumbled to himself as he carefully took apart his assault rifle, laying the pieces out in perfect order next to the cleaning kit supplies he'd also laid out in perfect order. Damn Mars dust. It got into _everything_. He'd already scrubbed over his pistol four times, his armor three times, and he swore he was still finding that damn red dust in the most impossible of places.

He hadn't even started on his rifle yet though, and he coughed as a fine red cloud wafted from beneath the weapon's cowling. He was just about to really get to work on the thing when a small pile of ration boxes stacked to his right clattered to the floor, making him jump, and then swear.

He caught sight of a slinky black tail disappearing around the crates of armor that had been pushed up against the back wall. He hissed a breath between his teeth, shaking his head. "Maltido gato!"

Another product of the Mars mission. The cat had jumped straight at Alenko's face in the pitch-black cafeteria of the Prothean Archives, scaring the shit out of the major to such an extent that it had taken every ounce of Vega's willpower not to burst out laughing. Shepard had not quite been able to help herself, a series of strangled coughs had escaped despite her best efforts.

The words that had come out of Alenko's mouth as the cat had jumped off his helmet and vanished back into the darkness had forced Vega to do a slight reevaluation of the man. And the way he'd stood firm right in the path of that ghoulish robotic apparition called Dr. Eva had also been impressive. So maybe he wasn't just a stuffed shirt, after all.

Shepard, of course, being Shepard, had immediately began cooing to the animal, trying to coax it back out into the open. Somehow she had managed to find it again and lock it in one of the cabinets. And then, after the mission was all over with, despite everything, she had actually taken the time to find a suitably-sized crate, go all the way back to the cafeteria, and retrieve the cat.

So now they had a cat. Maltido gato. It had been nothing but trouble since it came aboard. Though Shepard seemed to enjoy its presence… and strangely, so did Joker. The helmsman had even taken to calling it "his" cat, and the name he had chosen for it – Sissel, of all possible names – seemed to be the one that had stuck.

Vega went back to work, shaking his head again. This was definitely the most unconventional crew he'd ever served with. He focused on scrubbing every nook and cranny of his gun. He couldn't afford to have it jam on him… not with this war going on. Not with the kind of missions Commander Shepard went on. He winced, setting his tools down for a second to roll his shoulders.

Ouch. Maybe he shouldn't have rammed Dr. Eva's shuttle, after all.

A strange sound reached his ears, a bit like a stream of water hitting fabric, but sort of muffled. Vega frowned, stepping around the corner of his makeshift gym to see what the hell was going on. It was the middle of third shift and Cortez was off-duty; at the moment he was the only one in the shuttle bay, making it seem dark and lonely.

Except for the cat, which he quickly noticed was squatting in the middle of the BDU jacket he'd left on the floor after his last weight routine. He lunged at it, hand outstretched in the hopes of inflicting violence. "NO!" he shouted. "La madre que te parió! _That is not a toilet_!"

His fingertips scarcely brushed the sleek black fur before it was gone, hissing as it streaked away to take shelter somewhere behind the docked Kodiak.

Vega watched it go where it knew he couldn't follow and clenched his fists, bristling. Still swearing virulently, he reached down to pick up his jacket and grimaced at the very pungent wet spot spread across the entire front. He marched over to the console near the elevator, tossing the jacket at his feet as he quickly scanned through the duty roster to find out just where exactly Joker was at this time of night.

So he couldn't complain to Shepard. That was fine. Joker wanted to call Sissel "his cat"? Well then, the helmsman was going to get an earful, oh yes he was…


	3. Falling Slowly

**Mass Effect** **3**  
**Rating:** M (language)  
**Implied development of a pairing... can you guess it? ;)**  
**Jaine Shepard 'verse (Renegade!)**  
**Prompt:** **"Falling Slowly", **from the me_challenge community at Live Journal, Insanity Round (though I finished this too late to post on the community, but at least I can post it here!)  
**Summary:** Shepard takes a leap, and those who care about her most are there to catch her...

* * *

**Falling Slowly**

* * *

She squeezed the trigger steadily as she ran, painting the Reaper with a laser so that the _Normandy_ could find its target. She'd shot many a weapon while running before… but not for such a prolonged period of time. Not in such a confined space. Not without backup or cover. Not with a massive sentient machine bent on destruction staring her right in the goddamned face.

She'd done some pretty damn crazy shit in her life, but never anything like this.

One lone woman against a Reaper. She ground her teeth and stared right into its hot red eye, her hardsuit's warning system chiming as the searing heat from its energy beam cut through the rock behind her as easily as if it were butter.

She kept running. Kept squeezing that trigger.

_Come on come on come on come on…._

She was exhausted. Stumbled on something. Messed up the shot and swore virulently as she had to start all over again. But then she reached the outcropping that walled off the small plateau she stood on and had nowhere else to go.

The blast of the beam roared in her head, drowning the blaring alarms of her hardsuit. Her HUD exploded in a brilliant display of flashing red icons and warning lights. There was only one thing left to do.

She jumped.

The fall took forever. Time slowed. Every detail became excruciatingly clear to super-heightened senses: the purplish sheen of the Reaper's massive leg as she plummeted past it, the way the energy beam sent up a plume of vaporized rock above it like a whale's blowhole as she twisted around in mid-air, still squeezing that trigger, still painting her target. The way Rannoch's sky looked strangely orange. She couldn't remember if it had looked that way before or not. The sheer face of the plateau she had just leapt off of – it would be a hard rock to free-climb, that's for sure. The way the ground seemed much further away than she had anticipated…

A bright beam of light suddenly lanced from the clouds, blasting the Reaper for a third time, and the machine jerked and shuddered, pink explosions ripping through its metal hide and tearing it apart. She thought she heard some sort of shouting through her helmet, and then an abrupt vertigo gripped her and her body jerked upwards just briefly before finally slamming with great force into the ground she had been expecting some time ago.

Her vision flashed white, her HUD flickering. All breath left her and her mouth opened instinctively, but her lungs refused to expand.

Dim noises reached her; voices and running footsteps. Someone slid to a halt next to her and dropped to their knees, and then Vega's face eclipsed her view of the sky.

"_La madre que te parió_!" he hissed. "You are one _perra loca_, Commander!"

She gasped, finally regaining control of her diaphragm. "I… told you all… to get the hell out," she growled, trying to push herself into a sitting position.

Vega helped pull her up and she sat for a moment, letting her head hang as she recovered her air and took stock of the ache in her head and ribs and tailbone.

"Yeah," he grunted. "And if we hadn't come back around, Alenko wouldn't have been in range to give you a pull right before you splattered on the rock. And instead of a _perra loca_ you'd be a _perra muerta_."

Shepard raised a hand to her head, frowning. She glanced sideways at Vega and noticed Alenko standing behind him, gripping his rifle a little too tightly, his face ashen. Alenko had changed all right… once upon a time he would have never disobeyed a direct order. "Well congratulations," she drawled, her voice hoarse, "you've both just earned yourselves extra PT." She moved to stand up; Vega jumped to his feet and offered her a hand.

She stared at him for a second, then accepted the help.

"And you," she said as he lifted her easily from the ground. "You also get to clean up the Kodiak inside and out. With a toothbrush. For calling me a bitch."

He held her hand in his vice-like grip for just a second too long, fixing her with that maddening, lopsided grin. "Just calling 'em like I see 'em, Commander."

Her eyes narrowed and she pulled her hand away, spinning on her heel and trying to hide the pain that shocked through her body as she stalked back toward the waiting shuttle hovering some distance away.

Damn that Vega.


End file.
